Military-Industrial aspects of Turkish defence policy

Abstract

Republic of Turkey is one of the leading regional powers in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region. It is also considered to be one of the most promising " emerging powers " on the global level in both its economic potential and political clout (The Mint countries..., 2014). In the course of the last decade Turkey has pursued an activist for­ eign policy in its extended neighbourhood, positioning itself as an important player in the most important issues of international relations in the MENA region. This trend has been most recently and starkly illustrated by the ongoing crisis revolving around the advance of the so called Islamic State (IS). Turkey's position and policy are widely con­ sidered to be crucial for the effectiveness of international coalition's efforts at diminish­ ing this threat. All this developments make Turkish defence and security policy an important factor shaping international security in the MENA (Barkey, 2014). This paper aims to analyse the military-industrial aspects of Turkish defence policy. Sophisticated and profitable defence industry is a useful tool for state's foreign and se­ curity policy. It not only supplies armed forces with required weapons and military equipment but can also bring political influence on the international arena through arms transfers and military-industrial cooperation. These realities are not lost on Turkish de­ cision makers. That is why they have made the nurturing of indigenous defence-indus­ trial base a distinct state policy. In the course of this paper defence industry's functions in the frame of Turkish defence and security policy will be defined, the condition and structure of that state's defence & aerospace sector will be analysed and conclusions re­ garding its future prospects will be presented. This will provide basis for a wider analy­ sis of defence-industrial aspects of Turkish defence and security policy. 1. Roles of defence industry in Turkish defence and security policy In every state, the defence industry basically plays three broad and mutually sup­ portive roles: military, political and economic. The military role is the original raison d 'être for the entire defence-industrial base and arguably still is the main driving force behind state support for this sector. On the most basic level it amounts to equipping the national armed forces with weapon sys­ tems and military equipment enabling them to achieve tactical, operational and strate­ gic military objectives assigned to them in both peace and war time. This complicated process is comprised of several distinct phases, including research & development of new technologies, development of final products, production, servicing and decommis­ sioning of platforms and systems. Companies comprising the defence industry have a role to play in every step of this process. Traditionally focused on R&D and produc­